Owner Ron Asquith, standing in part of the 17 acres of olive trees he owns.

Several members and friends of the Ventura County Chapter of California Women for Agriculture enjoyed a tour of the Ojai Olive Oil farm and processing facility on Saturday, October 10. Owner Ron Asquith, standing in part of the 17 acres of olive trees he owns, explained the particulars of farming olives. The taste of the oil produced from the fruit varies with the variety of tree, and Ron has French, Italian, Spanish, and Greek varieties on his ranch. The trees need heat in the summer to ripen the fruit (making Ojai an ideal location), and are much more resistant to cold than avocados or oranges. It takes 4-5 years from planting for trees to reach production, and they tend to be alternate bearing (produce a heavy crop one year and a lighter one the next), though this depends on the variety. The primary pest problem is the Olive Fruit Fly. Ron treats for this with an organically-approved chemical, which is spot-sprayed with a backpack sprayer from about mid-June through October. The trees are drip irrigated and are regularly pruned, and can have productive lives for hundreds of years.

Harvest lasts from November to the end of December. While on the tree the exterior color of the fruit changes from light green to bluish to black, but more important is the color of the fruit inside; Ron says you know the olive is ripe and ready to release oil if there is some pink color inside. Ron uses a Farm Labor Contractor from Santa Paula to pick the olives. Pickers grasp a section of a branch and, with their other hand, strip the fruit into a bucket. Full buckets are dumped into a 40-pound box, which will ultimately produce one gallon of the finished product of extra virgin olive oil. Ojai Olive Oil processes olives for themselves as well as for five neighbors with smaller acreages.

The group moved to a nearby building which houses the processing equipment and a small retail store. The key to producing a high-quality olive oil is to process the olives within a few hours of harvest. Ron’s $100,000 stainless steel olive press was imported from Italy, as this type of equipment is not manufactured in the United States. Boxes of harvested fruit are emptied into a hamper, where leaves are blown out and olives are washed. Olives then travel up a tube into a hopper, then on to the crusher. A paste consisting of oil, water, and solids (with a consistency of thick oatmeal) emerges into a tank, where it is mixed and begins to separate. Each tank holds 400 pounds of olives, and after thirty minutes of mixing the separated olive oil is pumped out into a small tank where it can be tasted, tested for clarity, and filtered if necessary. Samples are sent to a lab in Paso Robles to verify that the oil is extra virgin, which is the highest quality.

Ron sells a peppery, a mild and an organic as well as flavored (lemon, mandarin, garlic, and rosemary) extra-virgin olive oils; imported balsamic vinegars; soaps and face creams; and olive trees in one- and two-gallon containers. Visitors are welcome on Saturdays from 10:00 – 3:00, and group tours can be arranged. Ron’s website is www.ojaioliveoil.com, or he can be reached at (805) 701-3825. CWA thanks Ron for sharing his farm and facility and for educating us about this little-known segment of Ventura County agriculture.